It has been revealed that the bombs used in the attacks Israel launched on the southern Lebanese village of Qana were produced by the US.At least 60 civilians, most of whom were children had been killed in the attack. The British newspaper Guardian reported that the bombs used in the attacks were laser-controlled BSU 37/B bunker busters manufactured by the US. The Independent claimed that inscriptions on shrapnel found at the sight of the attack indicate that the bombs were manufactured by the US. It also noted that the bombs were tested in the war field. The same type bomb had been used in last week’s attack that killed four UN observers. The Bush administration had shipped 2.5 tons, 100 GBU-28 “bunker busters” to the region after the operation began on 12 July. ... http://www.zaman.com

The Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel movement has said it will not send its most senior leaders to peace talks with the government. Sudanese mediator Riek Machar had asked for the group's top leaders to take part after earlier peace talks failed. But LRA deputy leader Vincent Otti told the BBC he would not attend talks in the southern Sudanese town of Juba. Hopes of an end to the 20-year LRA insurgency were raised on Tuesday when LRA leader Joseph Kony met mediators. The talks in Juba had been planned for Monday. But Mr Otti told the BBC that Juba was not safe because an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for the LRA leaders' arrest was still in force and Ugandan government forces were present in the town. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5243038.stm

Israeli jets pounded 120 targets in Beirut and troops pushed into Lebanon to create an exclusion zone near the southern border as fighting entered a fourth week. Air strikes targeted missile launchers, Hezbollah offices and a vehicle carrying weapons, the military said today. As many as 10,000 soldiers were establishing a strip about 8 kilometers (5 miles) wide on Lebanon's border with Israel to keep out fighters from the terrorist group, Israel Army Radio reported. ``Israel will seek out and pursue the Hezbollah terrorists and take whatever steps are necessary to rid Israel's north of this murderous terrorist threat,'' said David Baker, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Prospects for a diplomatic solution receded after Olmert said Aug. 1 Israel won't agree to stop fighting until a United Nations peacekeeping force great enough to contain Hezbollah is deployed. He said in an interview with The Times, London, published today that it would have to be about 15,000-strong...http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=auPr6sGLHcSM&refer=top_world_news

Hizbollah rockets killed eight people in northern Israel on Thursday, equaling the most lethal barrage launched by the Lebanese guerrilla group since fighting began more than three weeks ago. The deaths, in the cities of Acre and Maalot, raised to 27 the number of people killed by rocket fire from Lebanon during the current conflict. More than 100 rockets struck in the late afternoon, killing eight people and wounding dozens, police said. It was the highest number of Israeli dead in a rocket attack since eight people were killed in the port city of Haifa on July 16. The latest barrages were another sign the guerrilla group was still a potent threat to Israel despite comments on Wednesday by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that Israel had destroyed its infrastructure. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2269702

At least 21 people have been killed in a car bomb attack on a market in southern Afghanistan, officials say. At least 13 people were injured in the attack, which took place in the southern province of Kandahar. Earlier this week, UK and Canadian-led Nato forces took control of military operations in southern Afghanistan from US-led coalition troops. The area is a stronghold of the Taleban and hundreds of people have been killed there in fighting in recent months. "There was a suicide attack in Panjwayi bazaar. Twenty-one civilians, including children, were killed and 13 others were injured," interior ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai is quoted as saying by AFP. A Nato spokesman said a convoy of Nato troops was moving through the area when the attack took place, but was unaffected. "They were close enough to hear the blast," the spokesman, Maj Scott Lundy, told the Associated Press news agency. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5242364.stm

Apocalyptic visions of climate change used by newspapers, environmental groups and the UK government amount to "climate porn", a think-tank says. The report from the Labour-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says over-use of alarming images is a "counsel of despair". It says they make people feel helpless and says the use of cataclysmic imagery is partly commercially motivated. However, newspapers have defended their coverage of a "crucial issue". The IPPR report also criticises the reporting of individual climate-friendly acts as "mundane, domestic and uncompelling". "The climate change discourse in the UK today looks confusing, contradictory and chaotic," says the report, entitled Warm Words. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5236482.stm